Portable Space: Small Peasant Girls Farm to Get Rich

Chapter 351 Eat to your heart's content
Boom boom boom!
A knock on the door sounded amidst the wind and snow. The woman in the house rushed out with a beautiful smile on her haggard face. She opened the gate with trembling hands, completely ignoring the beating of the wind and snow.

"Sister Chen." The man outside the house looked at the woman who opened the door and greeted her.

When the woman saw who was outside the door, her smile froze and she looked disappointed, but she quickly pulled the corners of her mouth, smiled politely and spoke.

"Village Chief Jiang, what's going on? It's snowing hard outside. Please come in and talk." As she spoke, she opened the gate a little further.

Jiang Dafu waved his hands hurriedly. He just wanted to ask if Qingcao had returned. Now seeing that Chen Cuizhi looked depressed, it was clear to him what was going on.

"The snow and wind are getting stronger and stronger. I just went to look around the village to see if there are any villagers who need help." Jiang Dafu didn't ask any more questions, but just found a suitable excuse to cover up.

Chen Cuizhi shook her head. "Village Chief Jiang is very thoughtful. I have Uncle Niu and the others here. Everything is fine. Don't worry."

Jiang Dafu said "hmm", glanced at Chen Cuizhi who was forcing a smile, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Chen Cuizhi had good eyesight. She knew that everyone was concerned about this matter. She smiled with relief and comforted Jiang Dafu, "Don't worry, Village Chief Jiang, the girl will be back soon. It's so snowy and windy that I can't stand outside. The girl and her friends must stop to take shelter with so many things they brought with them."

Jiang Dafu nodded and chatted for a few words, then left the end of the village. After Jiang Dafu left, Chen Cuizhi's shoulders suddenly slumped, and she returned to the house dejectedly, not caring about the flying snow on her head.

It has been three months since the girl left, and the New Year is almost here. I don’t know if the girl and her family can make it back.

Chen Cuizhi looked at the heavy snow outside the house and let out a long breath. She was only in her twenties, but at the moment she looked like an old woman in her sixties without any listlessness.

In the next room, Old Man Niu, Qianyi and Sun Yunyun were sitting on stools with serious expressions.

After a long while, Old Man Niu spoke slowly, "Qianyi, are Furong and the others okay now?"

Qianyi immediately came back to his senses and said hesitantly, "My Lord, it's fine."

Hearing this, Old Man Niu's eyes darkened, "I'm sorry you've suffered all these years. I've caused you trouble."

Qianyi and Sun Yunyun were startled and quickly knelt on the ground, their voices choking with sobs, "Master, it is our stupidity that has caused you trouble. Please punish us, Master."

"Master, please punish me."

The two of them lowered their heads and felt even more uncomfortable.

Old Man Niu looked at the two people in front of him with mixed feelings.

Since leaving that place, the people under his command have suffered a lot with him, and they even didn't have enough food to eat.

They were loyal to him and would not leave him no matter what he did.

"Get up, the ground is cold."

The two men stood up and carefully observed his expression. They were completely relieved when they saw that he looked normal.

They never felt bitter following their master. They knew in their hearts that their master treated them very well and never treated them as inferiors like other people in imperial power.

The master is now far away from the vortex of imperial power, but the people above still won't let the master go. The master took the initiative to seal his acupoints a few years ago, and he can't deal with those people's assassinations again and again. If it weren't for them, the master would have been killed by them long ago...

Thinking of this, Qianyi became more determined in his decision.

"Tell them to pack up and go down the mountain tomorrow and come to Shihe Village to find me." Old Man Niu's voice was flat, and no emotion could be heard.

Qian nodded and decided to go up the mountain after having lunch.

The wind and snow have been getting stronger these days. Furong and her friends are living in a cave and are short of clothes and food. Life is not easy.

……

Three sleds slid slowly on the snow, and rows of black shadows appeared faintly in the wind and snow not far away on the side.

Liu Qingcao was wearing a veil on her head and a cloak, and was leaning comfortably on the sled.

Liu Wu, who was on the sled in front, stared at the moving black shadows intently, her hand tightly gripping the soft sword at her waist. As long as those black shadows showed any abnormality, she would draw her sword and meet them.

As the shadow got closer, Liu Wu and Liu Liu became more and more nervous. Just when they could no longer bear it, Liu Qingcao's calm voice rang in their ears.

"Don't be nervous, that's Liu Xiao and the others."

Liu Wu and Liu Liu nodded and relaxed a little, but they still scanned the surroundings vigilantly. When they got closer and could hear the voices in front, Liu Wu shouted to Liu Xiao and the others, "Brother, is that you?"

After a while, a familiar voice was heard from the other side, and there was nothing unusual around. Only then did Liu Wu and Liu Liu completely relax.

Liu Xiao took Liu Er, Yu Cheng and others to a farther place to collect firewood. The dead trees around the Gu family mansion had already been moved away by refugees, so they had to move to other places if they wanted to find dead trees.

They made three trips back and forth today. One sled can pull two dead logs at a time. They brought ten sleds, and making four trips would last for several days.

This trip was also the last one of the day. From a distance, Liu Xiao and his companions also saw the dark shadow in front of them. They were also on guard against the other party like Liu Wu and Liu Liu.

Fortunately, we are all family.

Liu Xiao waved to Liu Wu and Liu Liu in the wind and snow. When they got closer, he respectfully clasped his fists towards Liu Qingcao.

"Young lady." Liu Xiao's voice was neither hurried nor slow, neither humble nor arrogant.

Liu Qingcao smiled and reminded in a gentle voice, "It's snowing outside, let's go back first."

After hearing this, Liu Xiao, Liu Wu and Liu Liu immediately drove forward.

When they arrived outside the gate of the house, the twenty or so refugees on the sled quickly gathered around the back door and carried the dead trees on the sled into the house one by one. When these people passed by Liu Qingcao's sled, they looked at her with fear and regret in their eyes.

Liu Qingcao was unmoved. He got off the sled and walked towards the gate of the house.

She was merciful enough to abide by the imperial laws and spare the lives of these refugees who wanted to steal food.

Whether humans or other animals, they are always responsible for their own choices.

If we go out and find food today, we can let the refugees go out to look for it tomorrow. This is always a useful method.

Her current situation is very dangerous. There are soldiers monitoring her in the dark, and there are also many eyes in the open. Under such circumstances, she must not take the risk of using the food in the space for emergency.

By the time we reach Feichi Prefecture, the number of refugees will increase, and then the houses we bought will come in handy.

Passing by the kitchen and smelling the fragrance of food, Liu Qingcao suddenly felt a little hungry. She had spent a lot of energy going out today, so it was normal for her to feel hungry.

She took two steps back and went to the kitchen, where Liu Si was scooping the boiling rice out of the pot with a large ladle and placing it in a bamboo basket to drain.

The white rice piled up into a triangular mountain, which looked delicious just by looking at it.

"Liu Si, what dishes have you prepared for lunch today?" Liu Qingcao asked after seeing him pour out all the rice in the pot.

When Liu Si saw Liu Qingcao, he first grinned and then answered, "Girl, let's eat fish balls. I caught too many fish a few days ago and couldn't finish them. I made some in my free time. It's just right for a change of taste now."

"There's nothing to eat in the storeroom, right?"

"Girl, there is still a sack of dried vegetables, as well as bacon, sausages, potatoes and mutton. It's just not much. It should be enough to last for half a month." Liu Si roughly estimated the time based on the daily food intake and the inventory in the warehouse.

Half a month?
The journey back will take more than one or two months. If we order so many dishes, do we have to eat white rice every meal on the way back?

Liu Qingcao was a little worried. Where could she find food to eat in this place with so much ice and snow?

There are quite a few vegetables in the space, but they can't be taken out.

She can't live without vegetables, but Liu Xiao and the others can.

If this problem cannot be solved, Liu Xiao and his group will have to bear the meals on the way back.

In fact, she doesn't want to eat alone.

She thought so in her heart, but the words she said were not the same.

"I will ask the refugees to look for some food outside tomorrow to go with the meal." Liu Si nodded with a smile. In this weather, many things were frozen to death, so how could they be easily found? But since the girl said so, he did not refute.

A few pieces of firewood were put into the stove, and the water in the pot began to boil in a short while. Liu Si picked up the wooden basin and poured it into the pot. The fish balls were tender, springy and tough, and they bounced up and down when they hit the wall of the pot, which was very pleasing to the eye.

Liu Qingcao stood aside and watched for a while, then went to the side to see how much seasoning was left in the kitchen.

Before setting off, she prepared two large sled boards of spices. Considering that the spices were medicinal herbs, she put a sack on the outside and wrapped it with a layer of oil paper inside.

At that time, I was thinking of taking a sled full of spices to General Yang and his men. Even if they were not used as seasonings, at least they could be used as traditional Chinese medicine to dispel the cold or treat diseases.

As a result, General Yang felt that they were of little use, so he moved some dried vegetables for seasoning. When the military doctor heard about this, he came and took away a few more sacks, and left the rest to her.

He picked out a small basin of spices from the oil paper bag, washed them with water and brought them to the stove. "Liu Si, let's have hot pot today."

Liu Si didn't understand what was going on. He looked at the basin of washed spices, his brows twisted in an unnoticeable way. After a while, he spoke hesitantly, "I don't know how to make the hot pot that the girl mentioned..."

Of course Liu Qingcao knew that he wouldn't do that, after all, she had never done it.

I haven’t eaten it for a long time. Since I have nothing to do anyway, I might as well make a pot for everyone to eat.

There isn't much food here right now...

But there is meat, vegetables and flour, so I can definitely enjoy the meal.

"No problem, I'll do it, you help me prepare the ingredients."

As he spoke, Liu Qingcao picked up a wooden ladle to scoop up the fish balls in the boiling water. He turned around and saw Liu Wu, who was at a loss, and chuckled, "Liu Wu, what are you standing there for? Beat out two kilograms of white flour, and wash and chop the black fungus, potatoes, dried vegetables, bacon, and mutton, and put them in a basin for later use."

Liu Si knew what he should do, so he stopped standing there and quickly took the ingredients and started washing them.

When Liu Qingcao saw Liu Wu starting to work, he turned the wooden ladle in his hand faster. When all the fish balls were scooped out of the pot, the boiling water in the pot also flowed into the wooden barrel.

Making hot pot is not difficult, as long as all the ingredients are available and the proportions are not too different, anything can be successful.

Nowadays, cows cannot be slaughtered at will, and they are of course not available for purchase on a normal day. It doesn’t matter if there is no butter, rapeseed oil can also be used.

The supermarket she attended sold clear oil base sauce. As for how it tasted, she had never tried it so she naturally had no idea, but the clerk told her that the sauce sold quite well, so she guessed it tasted pretty good.

The most difficult thing now is the fresh condiments like green onion, ginger and coriander. Where can we find these things in this snowy day? Without them, the taste will be greatly reduced.

She looked at Liu Si who was washing bacon and raised her eyebrows. She remembered that there were still a lot of seafood in the sled behind her carriage. Usually, the things on this sled were all the ingredients for her special cooking. Liu Si and the others would never go up and search without her permission.

"Liu Si, wash the bacon. Go to the sack at the end of the sled board behind my carriage and get two pieces of dried kelp, a basin of sea cucumbers, and a basin of dried shrimps."

Liu Qingcao thought about the dry goods on the back of the sled board, and finally decided to take three of them first. The other dry goods were in other sacks, giving Liu Si more room to search. He knew roughly what was on them, and it would easily arouse suspicion if he wanted to secretly put things on them later.

Liu Si put down the work in his hands, got up and went to the warehouse to get something.

When Liu Qingcao saw the last bit of Liu Si's clothes disappear at the kitchen entrance, he quickly took out the necessary ingredients and put them in the basin.

The ingredients in the space are very clean, so it doesn't matter whether they are washed or not. Seeing that the oil temperature in the pot is right, Liu Qingcao starts adding onions, ginger and other ingredients. When Liu Si comes back with a bunch of things, Liu Qingcao has already started pouring the spices into the pot.

When the spices were put into the pot, the pungent smell rushed into Liu Si's mouth and nose, shocking him so much that he immediately held his breath and rushed to the stove. Liu Qingcao held his breath and shook his head at him. Liu Si knew that Liu Qingcao was fine, so he walked outside and started to clean up the remaining things.

After most of the smoke had dissipated, Liu Qingcao slowly inhaled.

She made a lot of this pot, enough for them to eat about thirty times.

After the hot pot ingredients in the pot were ready, Liu Qingcao put them into individual clay pots, leaving only enough for two pots.

When Liu Si came in after preparing the ingredients, Liu Qingcao took a look and ordered, "Liu Si, go get two large clay pots and have someone light two charcoal fires. We'll need them later."

"Yes, girl." Liu Si hurriedly put the ingredients away and went out.

Liu Qingcao added fish balls, bacon and other hard-to-cook vegetables into the pot with the base ingredients. When they were almost well-seasoned, Liu Si also came in with two large earthenware pots.

"Liu Si, put it on the stove."

Liu Si looked at the things in the pot and didn't say anything, but the clay pot was obediently put over.

Liu Qingcao started to pack them with a ladle. When they were all packed, Liu Qingcao told Liu Si to take them out and cook them on the charcoal fire, while she quickly cut the ingredients prepared by Liu Si.

When it was time for dinner, everyone hurried to the main room following the smell. There were two bright red clay pots bubbling away, and the aroma made them swallow their saliva.

Liu Qingcao looked at them with a smile. Although the food along the way was not good, it was not bad either. Why did they all look like this?

"Come and sit down to eat. I'll arrange something for you after you finish eating." Liu Qingcao raised his chopsticks and spoke to the crowd who were standing there swallowing their saliva.

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly sat down at the table and started eating.

"Girl, it's delicious." Liu Wu picked up a fish ball and put it in her mouth. The words spicy, fresh and fragrant immediately appeared in her mind.

Delicious, really delicious.

Liu Qingcao smiled and said, "If it tastes good, eat more. We don't have much food now, and it's not easy to have such a luxurious meal. If you want to eat more on the way back, remember to contribute more tomorrow."

Liu Wu nodded repeatedly in agreement. Needless to say, the girl would do her best.

What's more, there are delicious foods as rewards, so she has nothing to say.

Liu Xiao noticed the key point, but not talking about business while eating was a rule set by the girl. Thinking of this, he swallowed back the question he was about to ask.

The hot pot tastes really good, especially after adding spiritual spring water, which is like the essence added by modern people, the taste is amazing.

Liu Qingcao ate two large bowls in a row before he stopped.

Today we prepared twice as many dishes as usual, but in the end not a single vegetable leaf was left. Even the rice was eaten up by Liu Xiao and his friends.

After dinner, Liu Si washed the pots and bowls and came over, and Liu Qingcao began to talk.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone sat upright on their stools with serious expressions.

Liu Qingcao didn't hesitate too much and said concisely, "Today, Liu Wu and Liu Liu and I went out and found another village not far from our house. There was no one alive in this village. The three of us dug up three houses and found nearly two thousand kilograms of food and some useful quilts and iron tools in one of them."

"There's no one in this village, and things will go bad if left there for a long time. Liu Xiao, take some more people with you tomorrow to look outside to see if there are any other uninhabited villages.

Liu Er, Liu San, Liu Wu, the three of you go and inform the refugees outside, and have them discuss and select some able-bodied people to go with you to dig snow and look for things."

With so many refugees, it’s impossible that not all of them are sick and unable to work!

Moreover, she would make arrangements for what they found, so they would not suffer any loss.

"Yes, girl." The four of them answered in unison.

Liu Qingcao glanced at Liu Si and Liu Liu, and thought for a while before opening his mouth, "Liu Si and Liu Liu, you will guard the house tomorrow and don't let those people with bad intentions sneak in."

Originally, she wanted to send Liu Liu out to find out about the people hiding around, but after thinking it over again and again, she temporarily gave up this idea.

It is better to arrange to inquire about this matter after leaving Beiwu. Now the most important thing is to guard the house.

After everything was arranged, Liu Qingcao left the main room.

On the way back to the house, Liu Qingcao's mind was in a turmoil. She thought helplessly that if things became more complicated, her brain might not be enough.

She knew her own worth, and luckily she was not transported to the harem, otherwise, she would be the lucky one who would not survive more than three episodes.

Although many difficulties can be solved much more easily with the help of the space, she can't always be a gigolo!
After much thought, Liu Qingcao decided to read more books like "The Art of War" on the way back to Shihe Village, otherwise he would have an empty head and would not know how he died if he met a master in the future.

She has collected a lot of books in her space. Apart from planting and picking in the space, she doesn't seem to have such awareness.